Let me be the first to admit that arguably the most iconic musical event ever to be assembled is a bit of a historical blind spot for me. I grew up more an MTV child of the 80s, raised on Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin’ and Johnny Cougar’s “Pink Houses”. And yet, if you asked me to name the greatest concert of all time I’d more than likely tell you it was Woodstock ’69. The stories, historical footage and incredible musical lineup are the stuff of legend. Even if you weren’t born before the music festival, which was held on a dairy farm in the Catskill Mountains, northwest of New York City in 1969, you more than likely have seen the footage and heard of the 3 wild days & nights of peace, love, music, and…mud.
Woodstock attracted an audience of more than 400,000 and despite the challenges the organizers, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfeld, and Michael Lang faced, what they accomplished for their army of concert-goers is something that echoes with humanity and likely will so long after I’m gone. But putting on that epic show required assembling some of the most incredible talents ever to grace a stage, and as you’d imagine, that assembly didn’t come cheap.
The following list is the breakdown of how much each of the event’s 31 booked artists were paid to attend and perform at Woodstock…
NOTE: The amounts are not adjusted to inflation.
The full conversations list updated for inflation can be seen HERE
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